thebookseller.com WEDNESDAY 11 04.2018 At the London Book Fair BY Katherine Cowdrey


ONNIER PUBLISHING HAS vowed to double its audio output within three years with the launch of a standalone audio divi- sion, while Faber is to renew and expand its commitment to audio, The Bookseller Daily can reveal. The moves come at a time when tussles for audio rights are fiercer than ever, with Audible increasingly bidding for world audio rights. Jon Wat, who ran the UK arm of Bonnier’s self-publishing platform Type & Tell before its closure in November 2017, will lead the new division. “It’s an exciting time for audio, with the market continuing to grow at a prodigious rate,” he said. Audio- book sales have doubled in the past five years, according to Nielsen UK, and grew 12% in volume in 2017. Faber is bringing its audio arm in house, having part- nered with Canongate for the past five years. It will publish 18–20 audio titles a year, with


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audio editor Catherine Daly overseeing the list. Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page said it was time to “go it alone”, adding: “We’ve been looking carefully at our opportunit to connect with readers who are clearly finding the new technologies around listening exciting.” Literary agent Lorella Belli described the recent surge in audio rights as “amazing”, adding that her eponymous agency had “sold more books direct to audio publishers—and some in significant five-figure deals—in the past year than in the agency’s 15-year history”. The audio market is also taking off in other territories, said Silvia Molteni from PFD. “The booming markets are China, Germany, Scandinavia, but also Japan, Poland, Italy, France and Spain,” she said. To meet the surge in demand,


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Bonnier and Faber signal intent in audio B


tive producer is Katie Bilboa, while Derek Wiltshire from podcast “Mostly Lit” will handle marketing and communica- tions. Editors Tom McWhirter and Jess Barnfield will join from Pearson and Ebury respectively. However, agents have told The Bookseller Daily that publish- ers must up their game if they want audio rights, with Audible in some cases offering for world audio rights alone what publish- ers are tabling for print, audio and e-book rights. Agent Julia Silk, affiliated


Jon Watt will lead Bonnier’s new,


dedicated audio list


Penguin Random House announced today that it has bolstered its audio team with four appointments to “drive continued growth”: joining from National Prison Radio as execu-


with literary agency MBA, said publishers were “in danger of alienating” agents. “Publish- ers are talking about how much bigger audio is and how much they need to have it, but they’re having their cake and eating it if advances aren’t any different and [the value of audio is] not reflected in what’s offered.” Curtis Brown agent Alice Lutens said agents and authors were “so heavily pressured to relinquish audio to the print publisher that we are leſt with nothing to negotiate”.


The Whisper Network finds its voice in slew of big-money deals


Sphere fiction publisher Catherine Burke has pre-empted The Whisper Network in a major deal, just 24 hours aſter submission, with Flatiron Books’ Christine Kopprasch securing US rights in a big-money pre-empt. Writen by US author Chandler Baker


right, Burke said the “thrilling read” was rooted in the seemingly ordinary decisions women make every day. “When their sleazy male colleague seems destined to be c.e.o., four women decide enough is enough; whispers become chater, chater grows


INSIDE


louder, and these women set in motion something that changes their lives dramatically,” Burke said. “Chandler has writen a book I am desperate to share.” Burke and


Rebecca Saun- ders, head of fiction at Hachete Australia, pre-


empted UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in a two-book deal through Peggy Boulos Smith of Writers House, on behalf of agent Daniel Lazar. In addition to the Flatiron deal in the US, sales have been agreed in France (Albin Michel); Holland (Bruna); Israel (Yediot); Italy (Longanesi); Norway (Kagge); Roma- nia (Nemira); and Spain (Penguin Random House), with a number of other auctions ongoing. The Whisper Network will be published in the UK in June 2019.


Naomi Alderman poached by Fourth Estate p05 · Doll Factory goes global; Cosy crime to Constable p06 · My LBF: Jenny Brown p15 Rising Stars: Then and Now p22 · Authors of the Day: Mihkel Mutt & Kristina Sabaliauskaite pp28–31 · Horace Bent at Olympia p38


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